Systems and methods for providing expedited promotions

ABSTRACT

Systems and methods for providing expedited promotions are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method may include (1) a financial institution server comprising at least one computer processor receiving, from a merchant, a transaction comprising an identification of a good or service, a customer financial instrument issued by the financial institution, and a promotion identifier; (2) the financial institution server retrieving a promotion associated with the promotion identifier; (3) the financial institution server approving the transaction with the financial instrument; and (4) the financial institution server automatically applying the promotion to the transaction.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 62/290,335, filed Feb. 2, 2016, the disclosure ofwhich is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention

Embodiments disclosed herein generally relate to systems and methods forproviding expedited promotions.

2. Description of the Related Art

Merchants often offer incentives to their customers to encourage orincentivize the customers to make a purchase. Some incentives aresponsored by a financial institution partner; others are offeredindependently by the merchant. Incentives may have time restrictions toencourage timely purchases.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Systems and methods for providing expedited promotions are disclosed. Inone embodiment, a method may include (1) a financial institution servercomprising at least one computer processor receiving, from a merchant, atransaction comprising an identification of a good or service, acustomer financial instrument issued by the financial institution, and apromotion identifier; (2) the financial institution server retrieving apromotion associated with the promotion identifier; (3) the financialinstitution server approving the transaction with the financialinstrument; and (4) the financial institution server automaticallyapplying the promotion to the transaction.

The transaction may be an in-person transaction, an on-line transaction,a purchase from within an application (i.e., an in-app purchase), etc.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the financialinstitution server settling the transaction with the merchant.

In one embodiment, the financial institution server may receive thepromotion from a third party using the promotion identifier.

In one embodiment, the financial institution server may reportapplication of the promotion to the transaction to the customer.

According to another embodiment, a method for expedited promotionprocessing may include (1) a merchant server receiving a transactioncomprising an identification of a good or service from a customer; (2)the merchant server communicating the transaction to a financialinstitution; (3) the merchant sever receiving a promotion to offer thecustomer from the financial institution; (4) the merchant serverpresenting the promotion to the customer, the promotion involving afinancial instrument issued by the financial institution; (5) themerchant server receiving acceptance of the promotion from the customer;(6) the merchant server conducting the transaction with the financialinstrument; and (7) the merchant server providing settlement transactionto the financial institution.

The transaction may be an in-person transaction, an on-line transaction,an in-app purchase, etc.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the merchant serverpresenting an application for the financial instrument to the customer;and the merchant server communicating a completed application for thefinancial instrument to the financial institution.

In one embodiment, the financial instrument may be received as a tokenfrom an electronic device associated with the customer.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the merchant serversettling the transaction with the financial institution.

According to another embodiment, a method for expedited promotionprocessing may include (1) a financial institution server comprising atleast one computer processor receiving, from a merchant server, atransaction comprising an identification of a good or service; (2) thefinancial institution server identifying a promotion to offer thecustomer, the promotion involving a financial instrument issued by thefinancial institution; (3) the financial institution servercommunicating an offer for the promotion to the merchant server; (4) thefinancial institution server receiving acceptance of the offer; (5) thefinancial institution server approving the customer for the financialinstrument; (6) the financial institution provisioning a token for thefinancial institution to an electronic wallet associated with thecustomer; (7) the financial institution server approving the transactionwith the financial instrument; and (8) the financial institution serverautomatically applying the promotion to the transaction.

The transaction may be an in-person transaction, an on-line transaction,an in-app purchase, etc.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the financialinstitution server settling the transaction with the merchant.

In one embodiment, the financial institution server may receive thepromotion from a third party using the promotion identifier.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the financialinstitution server reporting application of the promotion to thetransaction to the customer.

In one embodiment, the method may further include the financialinstitution server presenting an application for the financialinstrument to the customer; and the financial institution serverreceiving a completed application for the financial instrument for thecustomer from the merchant server.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present invention, the objectsand advantages thereof, reference is now made to the followingdescriptions taken in connection with the accompanying drawings inwhich:

FIG. 1 depicts a system for providing expedited promotions according toone embodiment.

FIG. 2 depicts a method for providing expedited promotions according toone embodiment.

FIG. 3 depicts a method for providing expedited promotions according toone embodiment.

FIG. 4 depicts a method for providing expedited promotions according toone embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments relate to systems and methods for providing expeditedpromotions.

Embodiments may simplify the process of applying a promotion to atransaction. For example, a customer may be provided with an innovativeexperience by leveraging a financial instrument issuer's existingability to pre-screen/acquire the customer with confidence and theability to apply various promotions to individual transactions.Embodiments may pre-screen customers and/or have customers compete ashort application, which increases confidence in the credit or promotionoffer. Embodiments may involve an alternate acquisition flow, which mayprocess a full application if a pre-screen offer is not presented.Embodiments may also automatically provision an acquired card into anelectronic wallet, mobile wallet, and/or mobile payment service.

Example promotions include installment plan promotions to an existing ornew customer's account, rate sale promotions (e.g., low or 0% APR for aselected time period); deferred billing promotions (0%, no payments fora selected time period); unique minimum due promotions (e.g., reduced orincreased payment for a selected time period based on a unique minimumdue percentage or fixed amount which may be combined with a rate saleoffer); fixed pay fixed term promotions (e.g., promotional balancebilled in equal installments based on an installment amount or durationthat may be pre-defined in the promotion which may be combined with arate sale); non-standard rate sale promotions (e.g., tiered APRs basedon the qualifying amount, promotional APR's that “flip” to a secondpromotional APR after a selected timeframe before rolling to contractrates, etc.); rewards promotions (e.g., qualifying transactions canreceive special promotional rewards in the form of points, cash, orphysical items); instant credit promotions, etc. In one embodiment, thepromotions may apply to an existing account or a new account. Otherpromotions, and combinations thereof, may be made as is necessary and/ordesired.

Embodiments support both direct and indirect promotions, meaning thatthe promotional pricing can be applied either directly by the merchantor indirectly by the financial institution based, for example, oncharacteristics of the transaction.

Embodiments may work with both open and closed loop transactionprocessing, but are not limited thereto. Embodiments may also leveragein-house payment processing networks to allow the open and/or loopprocessing path to be taken while still passing promotional pricingdetails. An example of such a payment processing network is JPMorganChase Bank's ChaseNet.

Embodiments may include customer-directed promotions that may beleveraged when the issuer provides an offer to the customer. Thecustomer may pre-stage a transaction related to the offer online, use itfrom a mobile wallet (e.g., like ChasePay, ApplePay, etc.), orindirectly by, for example, a set of customer-defined rules.

Embodiments may combine promotions with rewards programs to allow thecustomer to increase the benefit of the promotion. For example, a fixedpayment, fixed term, or other promotion may be offered with anadditional incentive of the receipt of reward points once the promotionis complete (e.g., the balance is paid in full).

Embodiments may make promotions and other offers available to anissuer's third party partners via a set of services that enable thethird party to provide these enhancements to the issuer's customers.

Embodiments may include promotions that support an upgrade or trade inoption that may allow the customer to take their old merchandise back tothe merchant and replace it with a newer model (e.g., replace an oldsmartphone with the newest model). For example, the merchant may pay anyremaining balance on the existing promotion, and may then initiate a newpromotional pricing offer on an upgraded or new product.

Referring to FIG. 1, a system for providing expedited promotions isprovided according to one embodiment. System 100 may include financialinstitution 110, product supplier 120, and merchant 130. Customer 140may be a customer of one or more of financial institution 110 andmerchant 130.

Financial institution 110 may issue financial instruments, offer linesof credit, etc. In one embodiment, financial institution 110 and one ormore of product supplier 120 and merchant 130 may have a relationship.For example, financial institution 110 may offer promotions forpurchases of a product supplied by product supplier 120, or forpurchases made from merchant 130.

Merchant 130 may be a provider, reseller, etc. of goods or services.Merchant 130 may be a brick-and-mortar merchant, an online merchant, asoftware developer (e.g., an application developer), a third partyaggregator for a plurality of merchants, etc.

In one embodiment, product supplier 120 and merchant 130 may be the sameentity.

Referring to FIG. 2, a method for providing expedited promotions isdisclosed according to one embodiment. In this example, the customer mayalready have a credit product (e.g., a credit card, a line of credit) orother account with a financial institution (such as a bank, the issuerof the credit card, etc.).

In step 205, the customer may select a good or service to purchase, andmay present the good or service to a merchant or merchant representativefor purchase. The good or service may be selected at a merchant location(e.g., at a brick and mortar location) or online. In one embodiment, themerchant representative may be physically present with the customer; inanother embodiment, the merchant representative may communicate by chat,video, etc. In still another embodiment, the merchant representative maybe a virtual merchant representative. In still another embodiment, thecustomer may simply place a good or service in an online shopping cart.

In another embodiment, the customer may make a purchase within anapplication (e.g., an “in-app purchase:)” Any suitable type of purchasemay be presented as is necessary and/or desired.

In step 210, the merchant representative may present at least one offerfor a promotion to the customer. The offer(s) may be presented inperson, on-line, through an application on the customer's mobile device,within an application, on a receipt (e.g., a code), etc. Any suitablemanner of presenting the offer(s) may be used as necessary and/ordesired.

As discussed above, any suitable offer for a promotion may be presentedto the customer.

In one embodiment, offer(s) may be included in a customer's electronicwallet, in an on-line account, etc. Examples are disclosed in U.S.patent application Ser. Nos. 14/699,511 and 14/744,608, the disclosuresof which are hereby incorporated, by reference, in their entireties.

In one embodiment, the promotion may be offered by the financialinstitution. In another embodiment, the promotion may be offered by themerchant, a merchant aggregator, a product supplier (e.g., manufactureror supplier of the good/service), etc.

In step 215, the customer may accept one or more offer. In oneembodiment, the customer may verbally accept the offer(s), and may bepresented with the offer(s), any terms and conditions, etc. duringpayment.

In another embodiment, the customer may accept the offer(s) using anelectronic device.

In one embodiment, the offer may be accepted by the customer using thefinancial instrument or account with which the offer is associated.

Any other suitable manner of accepting the offer(s) may be used as isnecessary and/or desired.

In one embodiment, the offer may be accepted before conducting thetransaction, or it may be accepted after the transaction is applied andmay be retroactively applied.

In step 220, the customer may conduct the transaction using a financialinstrument or account associated with the financial institution (e.g., acredit card issued by the financial institution). For example, therepresentative may charge the customer's financial instrument in theusual fashion for some or all of the amount, and the system may storethe offer code and provides a summary of the offer on the customer'sreceipt.

In another embodiment, the financial institution may provision a tokento the customer's electronic device. For example, if the customer ispurchasing a new electronic device that may include an electronic wallet(e.g., a smartphone), the financial institution may provision a paymenttoken to the new device and the customer may conduct the transactionusing the new device.

If the customer is trading in an old device, the financial institutionmay deactivate any token that may be provisioned for the old device.

Following the transaction, for in-person transactions, the customer mayleave with the good or service. In another embodiment, for onlinetransactions, fulfillment of the order for the good or service may beperformed.

In step 225, the merchant may provide the settlement transaction to thefinancial institution. This may include the promotion identifier for thepromotion(s) that were accepted. In one embodiment, this may occur atthe time of the transaction, periodically (e.g., nightly, weekly, etc.),or as otherwise necessary and/or desired.

In step 230, the financial institution may apply the promotion(s) to thetransaction. In one embodiment, the financial institution may retrievethe specifics of the promotion using the promotion identifier. Inanother embodiment, the financial institution may retrieve the specificsof the promotion from a third party (e.g., merchant, merchantaggregator, provider, etc.).

In step 235, the financial institution and the merchant may periodically(e.g., monthly), exchange reporting, and may process any fees and/orincentives.

In step 240, the application of the promotion may be reported to thecustomer in any suitable manner, including on a statement (e.g., amonthly credit card statement), on-line, by notification, etc.

In another embodiment, the merchant may not present an offer for apromotion to the customer, but a promotion may be availablenevertheless. For example, a manufacturer, merchant, merchantaggregator, and/or financial institution may offer a promotion for aproduct that does not require an offer identifier. To conduct thetransaction, the merchant may process the transaction without entry ofany promotion/offer codes.

At the back end, the issuer may match the transaction based on amerchant identifier, a good/service description, a characteristic of thetransaction, a presented payment device, etc. and may apply a promotionto the transaction automatically.

An example of such a process is provided in FIG. 3, which discloses amethod for providing expedited promotions according to one embodiment.In this example, the customer may not have a relationship (e.g., acredit card, line of credit, or account) with the financial institutionoffering the promotion.

In step 305, the customer may select a good or service to purchase, andmay present the good or service to a merchant representative forpurchase. This may be similar to step 205, above.

In step 310, the merchant representative may gather customerinformation. This may be performed, for example, during an existingcheckout process. In one embodiment, the customer's name, address,device identifier, etc. may be gathered.

In step 315, the financial institution may receive the information fromthe merchant, and may identify one or more promotion to offer to thecustomer.

In step 320, the merchant representative may receive the promotion(s) tooffer the customer from the financial institution and may present thepromotion(s) to the customer. The offer(s) may be presented in person,on-line, through an application on the customer's mobile device, etc.Any suitable manner of presenting the offer(s) may be used as necessaryand/or desired.

In step 325, the customer may accept one or more offer. This may besimilar to step 215, above.

In one embodiment, the customer may complete an application for afinancial instrument, account, etc. with the financial institution. Inone embodiment, the application may be completed using the customer'selectronic device, a merchant electronic device, etc.

In step 330, the financial institution may perform decisioning and mayapprove or reject the customer's application.

In step 325, the financial instrument may establish an account and/orfinancial institution for the customer, and may provision a financialinstrument to an electronic wallet stored on the customer's electronicdevice as, for example, a token.

In step 340, the customer may conduct the transaction using thefinancial instrument or account associated with the financialinstitution. The customer may also conduct the transaction using thetoken that was provisioned for the device. This may be similar to step220, above.

Following the transaction, for in-person transactions, the customer mayleave with the good or service. In another embodiment, for onlinetransactions, fulfillment of the order for the good or service may beperformed.

In step 345, the merchant may provide the settlement transaction to thefinancial institution. This may be similar to step 225, above.

In step 350, the financial institution may apply the promotion(s) to thetransaction. This may be similar to step 230, above.

In step 355, the financial institution and the merchant may periodically(e.g., monthly), exchange reporting, and may process any fees and/orincentives. This may be similar to step 235, above.

In step 360, the application of the promotion may be reported to thecustomer in any suitable manner, including on a statement (e.g., amonthly credit card statement), on-line, by notification, etc. This maybe similar to step 240, above.

Referring to FIG. 4, an acquisition flow for providing expeditedpromotions is disclosed according to another embodiment.

In step 405, the customer may select a good or service to purchase, andmay present the good or service to a merchant representative forpurchase. This may be similar to step 205, above.

In step 410, the merchant representative may gather customerinformation. This may be performed, for example, during an existingcheckout process. In one embodiment, the customer's name, address,device identifier, etc. may be gathered. This may be similar to step310, above.

In step 415, the financial institution may receive the information fromthe merchant, and may identify one or more promotion to offer to thecustomer. This may be similar to step 315, above.

In step 420, the merchant representative may receive the promotion(s) tooffer the customer from the financial institution and may present thepromotion(s) to the customer. The offer(s) may be presented in person,on-line, through an application on the customer's mobile device, etc.Any suitable manner of presenting the offer(s) may be used as necessaryand/or desired. This may be similar to step 320, above.

In step 425, the customer may accept one or more offer. In oneembodiment, the customer may verbally accept the offer(s), and may bepresented with the offer(s), any terms and conditions, etc. duringpayment. This may be similar to step 215, above.

In step 430, the customer may conduct the transaction using a financialinstrument or account associated with the financial institution. In oneembodiment, this may constitute acceptance of the offer(s). This may besimilar to step 220, above.

Following the transaction, for in-person transactions, the customer mayleave with the good or service. In another embodiment, for onlinetransactions, fulfillment of the order for the good or service may beperformed.

In step 435, the merchant may provide the settlement transaction to thefinancial institution. This may include the offer identifier for theoffers(s) that were accepted. In one embodiment, this may occur at thetime of the transaction, periodically (e.g., nightly, weekly, etc.), oras otherwise necessary and/or desired. This may be similar to step 225,above.

In step 440, the financial institution may apply the promotion(s) to thetransaction. This may be similar to step 230, above.

In step 445, the financial institution and the merchant may periodically(e.g., monthly), exchange reporting, and may process any fees and/orincentives. This may be similar to step 235, above.

In step 450, the application of the promotion may be reported to thecustomer in any suitable manner, including on a statement (e.g., amonthly credit card statement), on-line, by notification, etc. This maybe similar to step 240, above.

The following documents are incorporated, by reference, in theirentireties: U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,870,721; 5,940,811; 6,105,107; 7,370,004,and 8,352,370; and U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 10/683,294;11/447,031; 11/488,783; 11/968,036; 13/022,953; 11/610,289; and Ser. No.13/803,298.

Hereinafter, general aspects of implementation of the systems andmethods of the invention will be described.

The system of the invention or portions of the system of the inventionmay be in the form of a “processing machine,” such as a general purposecomputer, for example. As used herein, the term “processing machine” isto be understood to include at least one processor that uses at leastone memory. The at least one memory stores a set of instructions. Theinstructions may be either permanently or temporarily stored in thememory or memories of the processing machine. The processor executes theinstructions that are stored in the memory or memories in order toprocess data. The set of instructions may include various instructionsthat perform a particular task or tasks, such as those tasks describedabove. Such a set of instructions for performing a particular task maybe characterized as a program, software program, or simply software.

In one embodiment, the processing machine may be a specializedprocessor.

As noted above, the processing machine executes the instructions thatare stored in the memory or memories to process data. This processing ofdata may be in response to commands by a user or users of the processingmachine, in response to previous processing, in response to a request byanother processing machine and/or any other input, for example.

As noted above, the processing machine used to implement the inventionmay be a general purpose computer. However, the processing machinedescribed above may also utilize any of a wide variety of othertechnologies including a special purpose computer, a computer systemincluding, for example, a microcomputer, mini-computer or mainframe, aprogrammed microprocessor, a micro-controller, a peripheral integratedcircuit element, a CSIC (Customer Specific Integrated Circuit) or ASIC(Application Specific Integrated Circuit) or other integrated circuit, alogic circuit, a digital signal processor, a programmable logic devicesuch as a FPGA, PLD, PLA or PAL, or any other device or arrangement ofdevices that is capable of implementing the steps of the processes ofthe invention.

The processing machine used to implement the invention may utilize asuitable operating system. Thus, embodiments of the invention mayinclude a processing machine running the iOS operating system, the OS Xoperating system, the Android operating system, the Microsoft Windows™operating system, the Unix operating system, the Linux operating system,the Xenix operating system, the IBM AIX™ operating system, theHewlett-Packard UX™ operating system, the Novell Netware™ operatingsystem, the Sun Microsystems Solaris™ operating system, the OS/2™operating system, the BeOS™ operating system, the Macintosh operatingsystem, the Apache operating system, an OpenStep™ operating system oranother operating system or platform.

It is appreciated that in order to practice the method of the inventionas described above, it is not necessary that the processors and/or thememories of the processing machine be physically located in the samegeographical place. That is, each of the processors and the memoriesused by the processing machine may be located in geographically distinctlocations and connected so as to communicate in any suitable manner.Additionally, it is appreciated that each of the processor and/or thememory may be composed of different physical pieces of equipment.Accordingly, it is not necessary that the processor be one single pieceof equipment in one location and that the memory be another single pieceof equipment in another location. That is, it is contemplated that theprocessor may be two pieces of equipment in two different physicallocations. The two distinct pieces of equipment may be connected in anysuitable manner. Additionally, the memory may include two or moreportions of memory in two or more physical locations.

To explain further, processing, as described above, is performed byvarious components and various memories. However, it is appreciated thatthe processing performed by two distinct components as described abovemay, in accordance with a further embodiment of the invention, beperformed by a single component. Further, the processing performed byone distinct component as described above may be performed by twodistinct components. In a similar manner, the memory storage performedby two distinct memory portions as described above may, in accordancewith a further embodiment of the invention, be performed by a singlememory portion. Further, the memory storage performed by one distinctmemory portion as described above may be performed by two memoryportions.

Further, various technologies may be used to provide communicationbetween the various processors and/or memories, as well as to allow theprocessors and/or the memories of the invention to communicate with anyother entity; i.e., so as to obtain further instructions or to accessand use remote memory stores, for example. Such technologies used toprovide such communication might include a network, the Internet,Intranet, Extranet, LAN, an Ethernet, wireless communication via celltower or satellite, or any client server system that providescommunication, for example. Such communications technologies may use anysuitable protocol such as TCP/IP, UDP, or OSI, for example.

As described above, a set of instructions may be used in the processingof the invention. The set of instructions may be in the form of aprogram or software. The software may be in the form of system softwareor application software, for example. The software might also be in theform of a collection of separate programs, a program module within alarger program, or a portion of a program module, for example. Thesoftware used might also include modular programming in the form ofobject oriented programming. The software tells the processing machinewhat to do with the data being processed.

Further, it is appreciated that the instructions or set of instructionsused in the implementation and operation of the invention may be in asuitable form such that the processing machine may read theinstructions. For example, the instructions that form a program may bein the form of a suitable programming language, which is converted tomachine language or object code to allow the processor or processors toread the instructions. That is, written lines of programming code orsource code, in a particular programming language, are converted tomachine language using a compiler, assembler or interpreter. The machinelanguage is binary coded machine instructions that are specific to aparticular type of processing machine, i.e., to a particular type ofcomputer, for example. The computer understands the machine language.

Any suitable programming language may be used in accordance with thevarious embodiments of the invention. Illustratively, the programminglanguage used may include assembly language, Ada, APL, Basic, C, C++,COBOL, dBase, Forth, Fortran, Java, Modula-2, Pascal, Prolog, REXX,Visual Basic, and/or JavaScript, for example. Further, it is notnecessary that a single type of instruction or single programminglanguage be utilized in conjunction with the operation of the system andmethod of the invention. Rather, any number of different programminglanguages may be utilized as is necessary and/or desirable.

Also, the instructions and/or data used in the practice of the inventionmay utilize any compression or encryption technique or algorithm, as maybe desired. An encryption module might be used to encrypt data. Further,files or other data may be decrypted using a suitable decryption module,for example.

As described above, the invention may illustratively be embodied in theform of a processing machine, including a computer or computer system,for example, that includes at least one memory. It is to be appreciatedthat the set of instructions, i.e., the software for example, thatenables the computer operating system to perform the operationsdescribed above may be contained on any of a wide variety of media ormedium, as desired. Further, the data that is processed by the set ofinstructions might also be contained on any of a wide variety of mediaor medium. That is, the particular medium, i.e., the memory in theprocessing machine, utilized to hold the set of instructions and/or thedata used in the invention may take on any of a variety of physicalforms or transmissions, for example. Illustratively, the medium may bein the form of paper, paper transparencies, a compact disk, a DVD, anintegrated circuit, a hard disk, a floppy disk, an optical disk, amagnetic tape, a RAM, a ROM, a PROM, an EPROM, a wire, a cable, a fiber,a communications channel, a satellite transmission, a memory card, a SIMcard, or other remote transmission, as well as any other medium orsource of data that may be read by the processors of the invention.

Further, the memory or memories used in the processing machine thatimplements the invention may be in any of a wide variety of forms toallow the memory to hold instructions, data, or other information, as isdesired. Thus, the memory might be in the form of a database to holddata. The database might use any desired arrangement of files such as aflat file arrangement or a relational database arrangement, for example.

In the system and method of the invention, a variety of “userinterfaces” may be utilized to allow a user to interface with theprocessing machine or machines that are used to implement the invention.As used herein, a user interface includes any hardware, software, orcombination of hardware and software used by the processing machine thatallows a user to interact with the processing machine. A user interfacemay be in the form of a dialogue screen for example. A user interfacemay also include any of a mouse, touch screen, keyboard, keypad, voicereader, voice recognizer, dialogue screen, menu box, list, checkbox,toggle switch, a pushbutton or any other device that allows a user toreceive information regarding the operation of the processing machine asit processes a set of instructions and/or provides the processingmachine with information. Accordingly, the user interface is any devicethat provides communication between a user and a processing machine. Theinformation provided by the user to the processing machine through theuser interface may be in the form of a command, a selection of data, orsome other input, for example.

As discussed above, a user interface is utilized by the processingmachine that performs a set of instructions such that the processingmachine processes data for a user. The user interface is typically usedby the processing machine for interacting with a user either to conveyinformation or receive information from the user. However, it should beappreciated that in accordance with some embodiments of the system andmethod of the invention, it is not necessary that a human user actuallyinteract with a user interface used by the processing machine of theinvention. Rather, it is also contemplated that the user interface ofthe invention might interact, i.e., convey and receive information, withanother processing machine, rather than a human user. Accordingly, theother processing machine might be characterized as a user. Further, itis contemplated that a user interface utilized in the system and methodof the invention may interact partially with another processing machineor processing machines, while also interacting partially with a humanuser.

It will be readily understood by those persons skilled in the art thatthe present invention is susceptible to broad utility and application.Many embodiments and adaptations of the present invention other thanthose herein described, as well as many variations, modifications andequivalent arrangements, will be apparent from or reasonably suggestedby the present invention and foregoing description thereof, withoutdeparting from the substance or scope of the invention.

Accordingly, while the present invention has been described here indetail in relation to its exemplary embodiments, it is to be understoodthat this disclosure is only illustrative and exemplary of the presentinvention and is made to provide an enabling disclosure of theinvention. Accordingly, the foregoing disclosure is not intended to beconstrued or to limit the present invention or otherwise to exclude anyother such embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications orequivalent arrangements.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for expedited promotion processing,comprising: a financial institution server comprising at least onecomputer processor tokenizing an account of a financial instrument inresponse to receiving an acceptance of an offer for the financialinstrument from a merchant server; the financial institution serverpushing a token of the tokenized account to a mobile electronic device;the financial institution server receiving, from the merchant server, apending transaction comprising an identification of a good or service,the token, and a promotion identifier comprising an identifier thatidentifies a promotion associated with the account of the financialinstrument, wherein the pending transaction is an in-app purchase madeusing an application executed by the mobile electronic device; thefinancial institution server retrieving a promotion associated with thepromotion identifier; the financial institution server approving thepending transaction with the token; and the financial institution serverautomatically applying the promotion to the account of the token,wherein applying the promotion to the account comprises at least one ofselecting an annual percentage rate (APR) of the account, adjust abilling period of the account, adjusting a minimum due percentage orfixed amount of the account, or adjusting an installment amount of theaccount.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the financialinstitution server settling the pending transaction with the merchantserver.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the financial institutionserver receives the promotion from a third party using the promotionidentifier.
 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: the financialinstitution server reporting application of the promotion to the pendingtransaction to the customer.
 5. The method of claim 1, furthercomprising: the financial institution server retrieving the promotionassociated with the promotion identifier by accessing a database thatstores the promotion using the promotion identifier, the promotion beingincluded in an electronic wallet stored on the mobile electronic device.6. The method of claim 1, further comprising wherein an application forthe financial instrument is presented by the merchant server to thecustomer to complete, the method further comprising the financialinstitution server receiving a completed application and approving thecompleted application to establish the account.
 7. A method forexpedited promotion processing, comprising: a financial institutionserver comprising at least one computer processor receiving, from amerchant server, a pending transaction comprising an identification of agood or service and a promotion identifier; the financial institutionserver identifying a promotion to offer a customer according to thepromotion identifier, the promotion involving a financial instrumentissued by the financial institution; the financial institution servercommunicating an offer for the promotion to the merchant server; thefinancial institution server receiving acceptance of the offer; thefinancial institution server approving the customer for the financialinstrument in response to the acceptance; the financial institutionprovisioning a token for the financial institution to an electronicwallet associated with the customer; the financial institution serverapproving the pending transaction with the financial instrument; and thefinancial institution server automatically applying the promotion to anaccount of the financial instrument, wherein applying the promotion tothe account comprises at least one of selecting an annual percentagerate (APR) of the account, adjust a billing period of the account,adjusting a minimum due percentage or fixed amount of the account, oradjusting an installment amount of the account.
 8. The method of claim7, further comprising: the financial institution server settling thepending transaction with the merchant.
 9. The method of claim 7, whereinthe pending transaction is an in-person transaction.
 10. The method ofclaim 7, wherein the pending transaction is an on-line transaction. 11.The method of claim 7, wherein the financial institution server receivesthe promotion from a third party using the promotion identifier.
 12. Themethod of claim 7, further comprising: the financial institution serverreporting application of the promotion to the pending transaction to thecustomer.
 13. The method of claim 7, further comprising: the financialinstitution server presenting an application for the financialinstrument to the customer; and the financial institution serverreceiving a completed application for the financial instrument for thecustomer from the merchant server.
 14. The method of claim 7, whereinthe pending transaction is an in-app purchase made using an applicationexecuted by a mobile electronic device.